A hit television show in Spain saves its biggest surprise for the credits: It’s co-produced by a unit of WPP Plc, an advertising giant known more for marketing soap, ketchup and soft drinks than for making TV programs.

“El Ministerio del Tiempo” (“Ministry of Time”), which appears on state-run channel La 1, is part of a small but growing business at WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, financing TV productions. WPP’s GroupM Entertainment also backs Discovery Channel’s “World’s Toughest Trucker,’’ about road haulers navigating extreme routes, and the National Geographic Channel’s “Hustling America,’’ about con artists.

Read the full Bloomberg article here.